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Milice Patriotique Québecoise (Canada)
The Milice Patriotique Québecoise was a short lived far-right paramilitary political entity that existed from about 2007 to 2011 in Quebec. Officialy, its aim was to serve as "self-defence" in case of a backlash following the sovereignty of Quebec. It operated a shop in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve-Mercier Borrough of Montreal to finance its activities where they sold patriotic paraphernalia, airsoft equipement and some military surplus. Some members were seen parading during pro-sovereignty demonstrations altough they appear to have had a strained relationship with most other groups has they addered to an increasingly far-right ideology that clashed with the more common left-wing views of other sovereignists. The exact reason for its dissolution is unclear altough its leader was associated in later years with openly neo-nazi individuals and faced legal trouble due to threats he made against a anglo-quebecker wih a somewhat similar personnality but reversed views. Uniforms Videos made of members during training exercises show them wearing various patterns of camouflage outfits and gear. The self-proclaimed leader of the MPQ ("Major" Serge Provost) sometime gave interview wearing a more formal uniform composed of black pants with a white or silvery stripe down the hem, a white shirt with the Flag of Quebec on the upper left sleeve above the emblem of the MPQ and rank insignias (see below) on the shoulder flaps. A black tie. A braided red / dark-blue/ white lanyard around the left shoulder and a black beret with a woven patch on it. It is unclear if any other members ever wore a similar uniform. One member identified as a sergeant was photographed (24heures montreal-24/05/2010) during a demonstration wearing black pants, a black shirt with open collar and a dark t-shirt undereath, a black beret with a patch on it and 2 patches on his upper left shoulder that, based on the colours, appear to be the flag of quebec above the MPQ emblem. 2 shoulder patches with the logo of the organisation were on offer on the official website of the MPQ, one in full colour with a black background called "parade" (which might indicate that this was the type of uniform worn by the sergeant) and another in subdued colours called "combat". No white background ones were on offer which might indicate that it was unique to "Major" Provost. The beret patch worn by the major and the sergeant both have a pale blue background and appear to correspond to a patch that was sold through their website and identified as that of the "Régiment de Vaudreuil". It is unclear if any other regiment existed within the organisation. It should be noted that altough there existed a french "Régiment de Vaudreuil" under the ancient regime, it never served in America and so the regiment's name might instead be a reference to Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, who was the last governor of New France before the british conquest. Rank Insignias Rank insignias would seem to have been worn on slides: "Major" Provost used on his "dress" uniform dark blue slides with a thin horizontal golden stripe between 2 wider ones above the word "QUÉBEC". He wears similiar ones with a dark green background on a woolen shirt in another picture. A picture of an unidentified member of the MPQ taken during training exercises shows him wearing at the front of his combat shirt a slide in subdued colours with a fleur-de-lys above 2 chevrons pointing down above the word "QUÉBEC". The design of these being similar, it is possible that the MPQ was following pre-2014 Canadian Armed Forces pattern rank insignias with some modificiation altough in the absence of more exemples and the fairly small number of members, it is unclear if the MPQ had equivalent for each ranks. To complicate matter further, the organisational chart on the MPQ official website didn't use traditional rank names for roles but rather these terms: *chef de la milice chief *chef de division chief: leader of a region *chef de peloton chief: leader of 4 sections *chef de section chief: leader of an unknown number of militiamen *milicien militiaman It is thus possible that either ranks and function were separate or that these were indeed the rank titles and the term "Major" applied to Mr. Provost was strictly a nickname. Category:Canada Category:Quebec Category:Paramilitary Category:Militia Category:Separatists